Monk, Bagan

A monk walks a dusty road in Bagan, the ancient capital of Myanmar (Burma)—and a sight to rival Cambodia's Angkor Wat. The area once held 13,000 pagodas dating back to the second century A.D., many built of brick that was plastered and painted. Earthquakes and the Ayeyarwady River destroyed more than 10,000 of them.

See more pictures from the August 2011 feature story "Land of Shadows."